Tropical Storm Patty quickly weakening

Tropical Storm Patty has formed and should be a short-lived sixteenth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

The storm is 230 miles northeast of the Bahamas, not too far from Florida, but there are no storm watches or warnings in effect. The storm has drifted slowly -- it's only about 20 miles closer to the Bahamas than it was at 5 p.m. Thursday -- and it only expected to weaken.

Patty's maximum sustained winds have hovered around 40 mph, the bare minimum for a named tropical storm. Patty is expected to degenerate into a tropical depression by Friday afternoon, before reaching any land.

The storm could be but a remnant, becoming a post-tropical depression, by Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center forecast, though it could pick up some speed moving to the west toward Cuba.

It is a third-straight year of reaching a P-named storm in the Atlantic and seventh out of the past decade. The tally is still within NOAA forecasts calling for 12-17 named storms.

A dozen named storms during the June-to-November hurricane season is considered the norm.